DESCRIPTION: The overall goal of this research training program is to prepare a cadre of nurse scholars who will focus on studies of health interventions designed to prevent, ameliorate or reduce risk factors in children and youth living under environmentally-challenging conditions. Many, but not all, of these conditions are rooted in poverty. They place healthy as well as chronically ill children at risk for sub-optimal development, disease, and disability. While the relationships between health and life circumstances of children and youth are well established, less is known about interventions that protect those living under difficult conditions. Thus, there is an urgent need to prepare successful investigators with formal, didactic, and mentored research training in this area to alleviate the shortage of well-qualified investigators in the field. Using human ecology theory as the over-arching framework, this carefully designed program provides experiences specific to the science of intervention for high-risk children and youth. The University of Rochester School of Nursing has a highly qualified core of seasoned researchers who are evaluating the effects of theory-based interventions in order to improve outcomes in high-risk children and youth. These well-established researchers will provide trainees with state-of-the-art research skills in order to build successful investigative careers in this substantive area within: a) the context of exceptionally strong interdisciplinary teams; b) an established research center for high-risk children and youth; and c) a progressive health care community. The experienced core faculty within the School of Nursing will be complemented by highly experienced researchers, consultants, and collaborators in the area of high-risk children and youth from other disciplines within the University and Rochester community, which will add richness to the training experiences. In addition, a wide variety of community-based primary care practices, health centers, and health care-related agencies, whose patient populations and databases can be used in clinical and health care system investigations are available for the trainees. We propose to fund two new predoctoral and one new postdoctoral trainees per year through the five-year period.